(The Center Square) – An audit found the Orleans Parish Assessor’s Office used an illegal technique known as “sales chasing” to increase tax bills for certain property owners.
“Sales chasing” is defined by state officials as the appraisal of a property based solely on its most recent sales price, a practice prohibited by Louisiana Tax Commission regulations. This hits homeowners with recent sales in the pocket book with 13% higher taxes or an average of $611 per house.
This practice causes recently sold properties to be overvalued for tax purposes compared to those that have not been recently sold.
According to the Louisiana Constitution, property values are reappraised every four years.
As a result of the tax year 2024 quadrennial reappraisal, which was requested by the New Orleans City Council, the assessor has agreed to reassess property values for the 2024 tax year.
The report by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor and the Tax Commission also said the issue had been a problem in the auditor’s 2020 audit and the commission found instances as far back as 2017. The report said 28 parishes were cited for the practice in 2027 by the commission.
Auditors also said the Orleans Parish tax assessments “were not in the aggregate too high or too low, nor were they excessively inaccurate or systematically biased for or against high-value or low-value homes.”
The report identified 3,803 potentially “sales-chased” parcels with sales since the last quadrennial reappraisal for tax year 2020.
Orleans Parish assessed $51.5 billion in tax year 2024 for 153,628 taxable parcels or $335,315 in fair market value per parcel. Most of that value was residential at $40.6 billion (78.8%). Commercial property was 21.2% of that total, worth $10.9 billion of taxable value.
The report also said the parish’s new mass appraisal system can meet Tax Commission requirements without using the “sales chasing technique.”
In its response, the parish assessor said recently sold properties tend to be more valuable than those that have not and “addresses the impact of gentrification on the real estate market while providing a layer of insulation to protect our culture and community members.”
